Shawn Huse (17th season)
Coach Huse is the winningest coach in MSU-Northern history and has an overall record of 334-177. He is ranked 17
th in wins among active NAIA DI men’s basketball coaches, and 6
th among that group in active winning percentage (65%). He has led the Lights to five NAIA National Tournaments and five Frontier Conference titles (league or tournament). The Lights have had ten 20-win seasons and have averaged over 20-wins in his sixteen years. He was named a NAIA Don Meyer National Coach-of-the-Year finalist in 2013, and Frontier Conference Coach-of-the-Year in 2008. Under Huse, the Lights have ranked in the NAIA Top 25 thirteen of his sixteen seasons, have led the Frontier Conference in defensive scoring average eight times, and have led the league in three-point-shooting (percentage and/or makes) six times. His teams have broken fourteen school records (including three-point field goals in 2018 with 339), and have made their home gym a daunting place to play, racking up a career home record of 197-47 (81%).
In 2017-18, the Lights finished second overall in NAIA 3-point field goals made per game (10.9) and in 3-point field goal percentage (41%). Ryan Reeves earned Frontier Conference Defensive Player-of-the-Year, NAIA Honorable Mention All-American, and First Team All-Frontier honors, while Charles Porter earned Honorable Mention All-Frontier honors. Academically, Devin Bray earned NAIA Academic All-American honors, and Justin Dunsmore, Adam Huse, Reeves, and Bray earned Academic All-Conference honors. During his career, Coach Huse has also had ten MSU-Northern Student Excellence Award winners in sixteen years (the highest honor a student at MSU-Northern can receive).
Additionally last year, the Lights were the recipient of the NAIA National Champions of Character Award and the NAIA National Sportsmanship Award (honors given to the NAIA D1 men’s basketball team that best demonstrates in every day decisions integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship, and servant leadership). As Coach Huse’s teams have consistently done over the years, the 2017-18 Lights volunteered in Havre and its surrounding areas in over 15 various community service events and activities.
Prior to working at Northern, Huse was a part of three highly successful teams as an assistant coach. Under Tom Kropp and Kevin Lofton, Huse ran the defense at Nebraska-Kearney. The Lopers played in two Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) Tournament Championships, won two regular-season titles, and won a school-record 18 consecutive games. At Montana Tech in 1995, Huse was tabbed Frontier Conference MVP, and he served as the assistant coach at Montana Tech, helping lead the Orediggers to back-to-back conference tournament championships and national tournament appearances in 1998 and 1999. As an assistant coach at his alma mater, the Missoula Big Sky High School Eagles won the school’s first and only State AA boys’ basketball title in 1997.
Huse was born and raised in Missoula, MT. He earned a Master of Arts
degree in Education from The University of Nebraska-Kearney in 2002, a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mathematics from the University of Montana in 1997, and a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from Montana Tech in 1995. Shawn’s wife Stephanie, also from Missoula, earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Montana Tech in 1999, and a Master’s degree in Counseling from MSU-Northern in 2006. She currently works as the Licensed Therapist for AltaCare Counseling at Havre Middle School. Stephanie and Shawn are the VERY proud parents of their daughter Molly (13), son Matthew (11), and son Braxton (6).
